Re: The evils of the Trinity idea
Gabe, on host 66.185.72.201
Friday, October 10, 2003, at 23:20:52
Re: The evils of the Trinity idea posted by gremlinn on Friday, October 10, 2003, at 12:43:39:
> Probably it's in this thread somewhere else, but I said that God also has no control on the truth of all of mathematics (relative to its own axioms which are taken to be true). For example, given how we define integers, division, etc., God can't make it false that there are an infinite number of primes. And that basically goes for all the results we've obtained through mathematics (though the farther you go, the more axioms you have to throw in). > > Now I'm not saying that we *know* that we've made no mistakes in deriving various things in mathematics, but that if we *are* wrong, we're definitely wrong and it's also out of God's control. There may be an error in some extremely complicated proof out there, giving the wrong result, but ultimately the truthhood or falsehood (or essential unprovability -- can't forget that possibility) of a statement will stand as an absolute (relative to axioms) on its own.
All of math, especially as part of logic, is certainly in the category of necessary truth. Theists (at least those I've polled in the last few minutes) also hold God to be necessary truth, and therefore logic must necessarily be part of God's nature.* As an (uncaused) consequence, God can't contradict his nature.
*Either (1) God created logic, (2) Logic is a part of God's nature, or (3) Logic is self-existing. If 1, then logic could have existed uncreated without being created, too, and there would be no reason to suppose that God creating logic would cause logic to be created. In other words, it has problems. If 2, sweet. And 3 is indistinguishable from 2 anyhow. It's similar to the nondifference between "A leg is currently a part of my nature" and "There's a leg on me." Say it how you please.
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